Help in Essay Writing - Communicating in Geography and the Environmental Sciences

3rd edition available on reserve at the Central Library (1st floor). Older editions available at the Central Library on 3 day or standard loan.This book contains in-depth coverage of essay preparation and formatting.

Online tutorial on how write a structured scientific report, e.g. laboratory report, field trip write-up, or original research.

Managing Your References

Wondering how to keep track of all your research information?

Reference Management software helps you store, organise, and correctly cite all your research information with incredible ease. There are many options available, but here are three popular examples:

EndNote is commercial software for organising references, citing them in essays, and automatically generating bibliographies. The Library recommends EndNote for postgraduate students. It is available on all University student and staff desktops, and you can purchase a licence from ITS to download it onto your laptop.

Zotero is free and open source software to help you collect, manage, cite, and share your research sources. It is available as Firefox plugin or standalone software on your desktop, and is easy to setup and use.

Citation Styles

The Geography department requires the use of the Harvard referencing style. Information on how to use this style is available on the Harvard Referencing Style section of the Library citation page. This page has documentation which provides advice and examples using the Harvard style. There is also a citation generator which will compile a reference in the Harvard style from information you enter.

If you are writing a thesis or dissertation paper you may want to consider using EndNote referencing software to speed up the process. See the EndNote section on this page.

Evaluating Information

It is important to understand the quality and value of the information you are using to support your research report. Click on the image above to learn how to evaluate the information you are using, and to critically assess its value.